A Juicy New Habit

It has been a while since I blogged. It has been a while since I did much cooking. When life gets crazy and things start to reel out of control, one of the first things I do to get back on track is to get back to my kitchen. Cooking is my way of slowing down, living in the moment, returning to routine and normalcy.

I had a little bit of a health worry a few months ago when I started feeling excessively tired. I had no energy  and was napping several times a day. I thought maybe it was my thyroid but the doctor diagnosed a pretty severe Vitamin D deficiency. Once I started supplements, I perked right up. It was an eye-opening reminder (literally!) of just how important good nutrition is for the functioning of our bodies.

The scale creeps ever upward as I progress into middle age, another unwelcome reminder that I am not eating properly. Now to be fair, I have been under tremendous stress the last several months and hate to exercise. The schedule has been crazy at times and we have been eating out quite a bit. Unfortunately, this has led to my wallet thinning and my waistline expanding.

Definitely time for the Pantry Shopper to come out and play.

This past weekend The Geek and I went for dinner at a friend's house and she had a Ninja blender sitting on the counter. She has been making and drinking veggie smoothies and loves them. She says she has lost weight and feels so much better. I've seen the Jack Lalanne juicer infomercials on TV and contemplated buying a juicer every time I passed them at the local warehouse store, but I resisted because it seemed like a novelty purchase. But something about sipping her delicious veggie concoction this weekend clicked with me and I decided I wanted to start juicing as well.

The first decision is what kind of juicer to use. My father had a heavy-duty juicer when I was a child, and I remember him making gallons and gallons of carrot juice every week. I also remember it was a pain to take apart and clean and it generated a ton of pulp. Today's models are sleeker, more convenient, and extract every possible ounce of liquid (just about) out of the veggies. They also tend to be pricey, with most starting at $100.

I happen to have both a Magic Bullet and a Vita-mix in my pantry  so it was a no-brainer... I am puréeing vegetables rather than the traditional "juicing." This would have been my method of choice anyway, since I like the idea of getting the whole fruit - pulp and all - in my juice. The Magic Bullet 12 oz cups are perfect for trying new recipes, although I find it does not liquefy as completely as the Vita-mix. I also prefer the convenience of mixing up a pitcher full of juice in the morning in the Vita-mix and then sipping on it as the day progresses.

Now comes the fun part... what to juice. I've made smoothies before (and blogged about it; see my posting here) but this is different. To boost the nutritional content, now I am skipping the fillers (ice) and calorie-laden sweeteners (chocolate milk, soda, etc) and going for whole fruits and vegetables with a little bit of 100% fruit juice to liquefy and sweeten the mix.

I wandered around the grocery aisles and received recommendations from friends as far as what to try first. So far the most popular vegetables seem to be carrots, spinach and other leafy greens, tomatoes, and beets. (YUMMM - I am loving beet juice!) Kale, lettuce, cabbage, and broccoli seem to be less common but delicious options.

I love fruit and it's easy to make fruit smoothies. But since I am trying to be creative with and eat more vegetables, I am limiting the fruit to either less than 1/3 of the total drink or only using 100% fruit juice as the fruit.  (There are no berries in the picture because I didn't have any, but of course, everyone recommends adding strawberries, blueberries, etc. to your drink.)

I am not one of those people who takes nutritional supplements, other than my daily vitamin and Vitamin D. But when I'm using the veggie drink as a replacement for a meal, I'll add in a scoop of soy protein powder and a bit of fiber powder as well. I've also been thinking about experimenting with different flavors, such as cinnamon and cloves in an apple drink to mimic apple pie. I'd also like to experiment with savory drinks such as adding lemon juice to a tomato/cucumber/parsley drink since I love middle eastern tabbouleh or adding hot sauce to tomato/celery/cucumber/spinach juice.

They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I'm looking forward to the next three weeks!